Programming
by LordSadLampshade
Summary: Katherine McMillan works as a computer programmer in London- in the future. The new employee, Olivia Masters, seems a bit odd, but Kat can't quite put her finger on what it is about the new girl. One-shot, 2224 words.


_London, England, 2235 (23rd Century)_

Kat's fingers flew across the keyboard, typing a simple line of binary code into her computer. It was standard-issue technology, maybe a few decades old at best, and Kat hated it. The screen froze up for a few desperate seconds, then dinged into life with a sharp _whirr-click_.

Olivia, the intern that sat beside Kat, flicked her own computer screen. "These are _ancient_ ," she moaned, gripping the device on either side.

Kat smiled to herself. Olivia had arrived a few months ago in an odd white trenchcoat that must have been a century old and steel-toed combat boots. She'd walked right up to Kat's uptight manager and asked for a job.

Kat and Olivia worked in a large office building in London. It was owned by Techno-Logic, a prestigious computer company that developed anti-hacking technology for the population.

The girls' job, along with about two-hundred-some other interns and staff, was to create hacks for the geniuses higher on the pecking order to disable. Kat worked ten hours daily for relatively sound pay, five days a week. It was tedious, boring work and often left her blinking blearily for hours afterwards, but it was better than working inside a nuclear plant or plastic factory.

Olivia was waiting for her computer to load, drumming her fingers against the desk. _Tap-tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap-tap_. She sighed angrily, whacking her computer in disgust. "Still hasn't bloody loaded. I can't believe they're giving us rubbish from the twenty-first century."

Kat shook her head, still smiling. Her computer had automatically opened the hacking program every device in the building had access to, and she'd already brainstormed a few ideas for a new virus.

Leaning over to Olivia, Kat murmured, "How about a virus that can go undetected by the mainframe, but will delete all the files on the device without recovery? Want to try creating it?"

Olivia sniffed. "Dunno. I thought they already- wait, wrong century. Of course. By all means, go ahead."

Kat raised an eyebrow and was about to inquire as to what her partner meant by 'wrong century', when her manager, Albert, called their names.

"McMillan, Katherine. Masters, Olivia. Get over here."

Olivia made a shooting hand motion to her head, and Kat giggled. They stood, making sure to switch off their desktop computers as they did so.

Albert was waiting for them outside his office. "You're not in trouble," he explained as the girls exchanged wary looks, "one of the higher-ups just needs McMillan here to fix up the retinal scan in their office. Forty-fourth floor, room one-two-oh-eight. Masters, with me. There are a couple of 'bots that want to see you."

Kat blanched. Most robots didn't step anywhere near Techno-Logic's buildings, for fear of being dismembered and sold as scrap metal. Of course, this was just a rumour, but 'bots were so scarce around these parts, Kat often forgot they even existed.

There was a sparkle in Olivia's eyes that Kat hadn't seen before- she couldn't place what it was- excitement, perhaps? But the intern turned away and followed Albert down the corridor before Kat could discern more. However, something about the look Olivia had was practically begging Kat to follow her. Kat wasn't usually one to break the rules, but...

She spun on the heel of her supermarket-issue sneaker and dashed down the hallway.

There were several doors at the end of the corridor. Kat took a wild guess and opened the first one on the right, which was a storage unit. She was about to open the door next to the closet, when she heard footsteps and talking behind it. She dove into the storage unit and slammed the door, ducking behind a pile of mops and disinfectant.

The mechanical sound of robots' voices passed by the door to the unit, their outlines barely visible through the triple-glazed glass.

" _Is she captured?_ " One asked. Kat held her breath. _Could it be talking about Olivia_?

" _We have never made mistakes in the past_ ," the other replied coldly, " _why would we have cause to start now_?"

" _It is common protocol to confirm these matters_." The first one sounded almost defensive.

Kat slowly began to move from her hiding place. And of _course_ , her leg bumped against a bucket of mops. They clattered to the ground, making Kat wince.

Both 'bots turned towards the storage unit. The knob twisted sharply, and the 'bots entered, spotting Kat splayed awkwardly across the floor.

Scrambling to her feet, Kat grabbed a mop and brandished it like a spear. The 'bots weren't like any she'd seen before- humanoid metal exoskeletons with two holes for eyes and a small horizontal gap for a mouth. They were made of what appeared to be steel, but that material had been used up three decades ago. There was no way they could be...

Her thoughts were interrupted by the second 'bot taking a step forward. " _Human_ ," it intoned, " _release the cleaning implement and come with us_."

If it had been any other circumstance, Kat would have found the robot's statement amusing, but now wasn't exactly the time. She raised the mop higher, silently daring the 'bot to come closer.

It took another step, and raised a large bulky weapon that looked like an oversized assault rifle.

" _Human_ ," the first 'bot droned, " _we will not ask again: release the cleaning implement._ "

Not wanting to be blasted to pieces, Kat quickly let go of her mop. It clattered to the floor, the noise sounding like her death sentence.

The two 'bots flanked Kat and grabbed her arms, hauling her roughly out of the storage unit. They dragged her along the corridor and through door she'd heard voices from. By this point, Kat was terrified they were going to kill her when they got inside, and she began to struggle in the robots' iron grip.

The room they took her to looked like a large holding bay of some sort. It was abandoned save for Albert, Olivia and a few 'bots.

"McMillan wasn't supposed to get involved in this." Albert's expression looked like he'd wet his trousers as he stood next to Olivia, who was being held by another three 'bots. Her nose was bleeding and her lip was split, but otherwise she appeared intact.

Olivia groaned in annoyance as the 'bots threw Kat to the floor at her feet. "This was _not_ supposed to happen," she said, pursing her lips.

The 'bot with the gun motioned to Kat, who was sprawled, stunned, on the concrete. " _We found this human in a storage unit. Is she affiliated with you?_ "

Olivia spat in the robot's face.

Kat had regained some of her senses, and edged towards Albert, who was the only human not being held captive. He noticed and shook his head violently. Kat glanced desperately at Olivia, who had that glint in her eyes again. She nodded down towards a set of car keys dangling off her belt, and mouthed something like 'TARDIS parked outside'.

Kat made a grab for the keys, and her hand closed around the metal. She rolled past Olivia and the 'bots holding her, her momentum carrying her far past them. She sprang up and started running, narrowly missing a blast from the huge gun that 'bot was carrying. Hurtling into a door that shone with outside light, Kat kicked it open with her foot, wincing as pain laced up her leg. The door took two tries to open, and on the second, Kat stumbled out into the daylight, blinking owlishly.

Swinging the door shut and grabbing a piece of wood board to secure it, Kat glanced down at the keys Olivia had given her, breathing heavily. Adrenalin still pumped through her veins, and she hopped from foot to foot nervously. The keys were old-fashioned, with a button that you'd press to make the vehicle light flash. Kat started walking, taking care to look back at the door she'd burst through. Nothing moved.

Eventually, she'd walked around the Techno-Logic building and arrived at the carpark, where the cars hung, tethered by ropes. Most of the crafts were the intern's cheap hovercrafts, but the occasional high-powered crafts drifted alongside the standard ones. Kat took a deep breath. The vehicle the matched the keys was fairly obvious- at least a century-old, tiny silver sports car. Kat groaned. The machine was eight crafts away, which meant she'd have to climb the ropes that held the gravity-defying machinery in place, jump from craft to craft, and somehow unlock the sports car without falling. She sighed. _Why does everything have to be difficult_?

As she hoisted herself up onto the roof of the first car, she heard commotion from the back of the building. Olivia came sprinting around the same way Kat had, dodging blasts from the 'bots.

Kat upped the pace, her palms and forehead dripping sweat. She jumped from the first car to the second- only about a metre- and the second to the third.

Olivia had climbed up onto the first car, narrowly missing a shot from the robot below. The laser beam shot past her face and skimmed her cheek.

Kat was now two cars away from the sports car. Her ankle, which she'd been able to ignore while running, throbbed with pain.

"Almost there, Katherine!" Olivia yelled, her combat boot crunching into a robot's face. It spluttered and beeped for while, before falling backwards into two other 'bots.

Kat nodded, breathlessly landing on the roof of the sports car. She fumbled with the keys for a few tantalising moments, then finally bent over and unlocked the passenger door, slipping inside.

Kat's mouth fell open. _This is_ not _the inside of a car..._

She stood in the entrance of a massive, circular room. What looked like glass stairs ran down from the door she'd came from to a large hexagonal console. Piles of metal, gun parts and various other paraphernalia littered the floor around the console, and sheets of paper displaying complex diagrams covered the walls. Wires, buttons and half-bent pipes were strewn left and right. It looked like the playroom of a five-year-old, with metal instead of toys.

Kat slowly limped down the staircase, face still a mask of awe. The whole room gave off an eerie blue-white glow, like the ocean, and the ceiling was decorated with stars in a night sky.

Olivia's white trenchcoat had been tossed in one of the corners with a few other gadgets: a handgun, a cellphone and something that may have been a pen or a screwdriver.

"Do you like it?"

Kat whirled around, and her eyes widened further at Olivia, who was leaning heavily on the staircase rungs. Blood was crusted over her nose and mouth and her t-shirt and combat boots were smoking. Banging came from the other side of the door, but Olivia ignored it. She jumped down the stairs, three at a time, and circled around the console, pressing buttons and pulling levers at random intervals.

"It's my TARDIS, George" Olivia explained. "Time And Relative Dimension In Space, but he prefers George. He likes you."

Kat's jaw continued to hang slack.

Olivia carried on. "You see, when I got here, George's chameleon circuit was malfunctioning. That's why you could find him so easily."

Kat regained her speech. "You... your name isn't really Olivia Masters, is it?"

Olivia laughed. "Well, no, not technically. 'Olivia' is the name I use for pretty much everything, but 'Masters' is just an alias. I trust your name is definitely Katherine Isabelle McMillan?"

Kay nodded. "Just Kat."

"Well, you can call me Liv."

Kat took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. "So... you're obviously not human... what are you?"

Liv shrugged. "I'm a Time Lord... or Time Lady. Depends. Don't worry," she said at Kat's confused expression, "no one on Earth knows about us unless we want them to. I can travel through time and space... there are only two of us left. Me, and the Doctor, my good friend. And sometimes Time Lords have these things called companions. Like you, for instance."

Kat snorted. "Really? You want _me_ to be your companion? I'm useless."

"You think so? You're the top hacker at Techno-Logic," Liv replied, "and your scores in your university entrance exam are off the charts. You're clearly a quick thinker, fast on your feet, and brave to the point of stupidity. Don't be offended," she said at Kat's shocked face, "pretty much everyone I know is. I'd love it if you could travel time and space with me."

Kat was silent for a while. She pointed to the door of the TARDIS. "Are those 'bots gone?"

"I think so. They're called Cybermen, actually. If they ask you if you want an upgrade, say no. Trust me, it's not pretty."

Kat ran a hand through her hair. She leaned against the stair rail, staring down at herself. Her clothes smelt like cleaning fluid and had smoking holes in them. Her hands shook and were coated in car oil from jumping the hovercrafts. _And this would happen every day_...

"Have you decided? If you really don't want to, I can drop you off at your apartment or something. It's not for everyone." Liv was putting on her trenchcoat as her TARDIS hummed into life. Kat gulped, making her choice in that instant.

"I'm in."


End file.
